The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has fined accessiBe, a startup that claims to make websites more compatible with screen readers that blind people rely on to access the Internet, for false advertising and compensating reviewers without revealed that he sponsored the revisions.
In a proposed order, the FTC would require accessiBe to pay $1 million that could be used to reimburse the company’s customers and stop accessiBe from exaggerating the capabilities of its tools. The order would also force Access to “clearly and prominently” state connections to endorsers of its services.
“Companies looking for help making their websites (accessibility) compliant need to be able to trust that the products do what they’re advertised to do,” Samuel Levine, director of the Office of Defense Protection, said in a statement. FTC Consumer. “Overstating a product’s capabilities … without adequate evidence is misleading, and the FTC will act to stop it.”
accessiBe, based in New York, sells an AI-powered plug-in that it says can make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a set of technical criteria used to assess accessibility of the website. The company offers its services as a shield against lawsuits for noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination.
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Dekel Skoop, Gal Vizel and Shir Ekerling, accessiBe has managed to raise $58.5 million in venture capital from investors, including Los Angeles-based private equity firm K1. At one point, accessiBe’s clients included Pillsbury, Benadryl, Playmobil, the Los Angeles Lakers and government agencies such as the Louisiana Department of Health.
But many advocacy groups and customers say accessiBe’s products don’t work.
Tools like accessiBe’s can prevent screen-reading apps used by blind and low-vision users who read aloud what’s on web pages from reading pages correctly—and even make some unnavigable pages. Consumers have sued accessiBe in a class-action lawsuit, alleging that the company’s products failed to make their websites fully ADA compliant.
During its 2021 convention, the National Federation of the Blind described accessiBe’s marketing and business practices as “disrespectful and deceptive.” That same year, 400 blind people, accessibility advocates and software developers signed an open letter calling on companies using automated services like accessiBe to stop.
In 2021, more than 400 companies with an accessibility widget or overlay on their website were sued over accessibility, according to digital accessibility provider UsableNet.
accessiBe is not the only vendor selling automated accessibility tools for websites. But she has been accused of adopting a “defensive” style, dismissive of engagement with the access community – and of making tall claims.
According to the FTC, accessiBe not only failed to deliver on its promises to customers, but engaged in deceptive marketing. accessiBe “deceptively formatted third-party articles and reviews” to appear as if they were independent opinions from unbiased authors, the agency said in a press release, and failed to disclose “material links” to the reviewers. assumed objectives.
The FTC’s order, which was unanimously approved by the FTC’s five commissioners, will be subject to public comment for 30 days, after which the Commission will decide to make it final.
